Shoe-displaying device



J. R. RODGERS.

SHQE DISPLAYING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED 00125. 1920.

Patented June 28, 1921..

EmEs-A- SERIES-B- (Joye/"s A. W M J LABADIE SERIES A UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE.

JESSE R. RODGERS, OF UNION CITY, TENNESSEE, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF T0 WAY-MAN 0. JOPLIN, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

SHOE-DISPLAYING DEVICE.

Application filed October 25, 1920.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Jnssn It. Roncnns, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, and a resident of Union City, in the county of ()bion and Stateof Tennessee, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inShoe-Displaying Devices, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,forming a part of this speci fication.

This invention relates to improvements in shoe displaying devices, themain object being to provide a simple and inexpensive means for clearlyand accurately showing the shape, color, quality and workmanship of alarge number of shoes. Another object is to enable a traveling shoesalesman to very easily and quickly display the shoes in such a mannerthat the customer can very readily select the desired shoes withoutunnecessary confusion which ordinarily results from inspection of manydifferent sample shoes. A further object is to avoid the labor andexpense heretofore incurred by the manufacture and transportation of avery large number of sample shoes.

Prior to this invention, shoe manufacturers have ordinarily providedeach of their traveling salesmen with a Sample of each shoe to bedisplayed, together with several trunks in which the shoes are transported. The many samples show the different lasts or shapes of theshoes, and the different qualities of shoes made in accordance with eachlast. It is customary to provide each salesman with about three trunksfilled with sample shoes, and it is frequently very difficult totransport all of these samples to towns distant from the railroad. Inaddition to this, there is the expense of excess baggage, drayage to andfrom hotels, and usually rent for display rooms in the hotels.Considerable time and work is necessary for the removal of many shoesfrom the trunks and arranging them in the display room, and even thoughmost effectively displayed, the customer is confused in makingselections from a large number of sample shoes.

In addition to the troubleand expense of transporting and arranging aconfusing display of sample shoes, all large shoe Specification ofLetters Patent.

.series or class of shoes.

Serial No. 419,291.

manufacturers are subjected to the expense of maklng thousands of sampleshoes while their factories could be used to manufacture shoes for themarket.

My object is to eliminate almost all of this expense and trouble, and atthe same time provide a means whereby the shoes may be more effectivelydisplayed, so as to enable the customer to very easily and quicklyselect shoes of any desired shape and any desired quality, all of whichare displayed to fully show the various shapes of the shoes as well asthe quality and colors of the different leathers and the workmanship ofthe various shoes. This is accomplished through the medium of a certainspecific combination of elements including a few selected sample shoes,several series of photographs or the like, each series corresponding toone of the sample shoes, and samples of leather associated with thephotographs and sample shoes, as will be hereafter described, tocompletely illustrate the shape, color, quality and workmanship of eachshoe of the series.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention comprisesthe novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinaftermore specifically described and illustrated in the accompanying drawingswherein is shown the preferred embodiment of the invention. However, itis to be understood that the invention comprehends changes, variationsand modifications which come within the scope of the claims hereuntoappended.

Figure I is an illustration of a sample shoe and a series of photographsassociated therewith, each photograph being accompanied by a sample ofleather. v

Fig. II is a view similar to Fig. I illustrating another class of shoes.

Fig. III is an enlarged detail view showing the descriptive matter onone of the pho- .tographs.

To illustrate one form ofthe invention I have shown a sample shoe 10representing a represent either the quality or shape of other shoes inthe same class. For example, in Fig. I I have shown a sample shoe 10 asthe representative of a class of shoes to be known as s riefi A25 whichrm m Patented June 28, 1921 This sample may J are united andretaine d ina predetermined consecutive order. The photographs bear an essentialrelation to each other as well as to the sample shoe, for all of'theseelements represent shoes of the same class. Several samples and severalseries of photographs will be usedto' display a complete line of shoes,and it is therefore important to identify each sample with a particularseries of photographs. As an identification ineans,the sample shoe 10may be provided with a tag 14. hearing the title Series A and the sametitle may appear on the backing sheet '13 to which all of thephotographs 11 and sam ples of leather 12 are secured.

In Fig. I, the photographs represent shoes of different shapes, allconforming in quality,workmanship'and price to the sample shoe 10, andeach shoe is known by a name indicating its shape or last. On the firstphotograph in the series, the word Olive appears for the purpose ofindicating the Olive last, and the same photograph is provided with thecharacters A-l indicat ing the first shoe in series A. The letter Aindicates the quality of the shoe. On the remaining photographsll, thenames of the lasts are shown by the words Iiabadie, Maffitt, Bartmer,etc, and the quality and numbers of these shoes are indicated by A-Q,ill-3, A.4:, etc. In the preferred form of the invention each photographis also provided with a brief description of the shoe, as illustrated byFig. III, together with a statement showing different dimensions oftheshoes conforming to the photograph.

On the tag 14.: accompanying the sample shoe 10, the words Olive lastshoe A-l set forth the shape, quality and number of the sample shoe. Thephotographs 11 and samples of leather 12 clearly show the shape,colorand general appearance of each shoe, and I prefer to illustrate theaccuracy of these representations by making one of the photographs andone ofthe leather samples represent the sample shoe 10. In Fig. I thefirst picture in the series is a photo graph of the sample shoe 10, andit is accompanied by a sample of the leather in the sample shoe 10. Thisfeature is of some importance, for it shows the accuracy of the uniquedisplay device and enables the customer to more readily select the shoesafter the accuracy of the device has been determined'by a comparison ofthe sample shoe with its photograph and leather sample. In Fig. III haveshown a series of photographs 11 mounted on a backing sheet 13 and thesample shoe 10 associated therewith, each photograph being provided witha sample of leather 12. This combination of elements is provided withletters, num bers, and descriptive words which are clearly shown by thedrawing and which will be readily understood in view of the descriptionof the similar combination shown by Fig. I. The combination shown byFig. II represents shoesof the second quality, as indicated by theletter B. The shoe 13-1 is represented by the sample shoe as well as bythe sample of leather and photograph B-l.

The sample shoes 10 and 10 are, of course, perfect illustrations of theshape of shoes made on certain lasts, the sample 10 conforming to theOlive last and the sample 10 conforming to the Labadie last. Thephotograph A-Z in Fig. I illustrates a class A shoe made on the Iiabadielast, and a class B shoe conforming to this last is shown by'the sample10,.so the photograph i l-2 can be compared with the sample shoe 10 aswell as with the sample shoe 10 to ob tain a thorough understanding ofthe appearance and quality of the shoeA-Q. In the same manner, Oliveshoe represented by photograph 13-2 (Fig. II) is shown partly by thephotograph and partly by the sample of leather, while its shape andgeneral appearance is shown by the sample shoe 10 made on the Olivelast.

It will be understood that additional sample shoes can be associatedwith photographs and samples of leather in the manner herein shown, toaccurately represent a complete line of shoes, and in manyinstances thesample assoclated with a'series of photographs can be advantageouslyused in connection with a photograph in another series.

In the selection of shoes, the customer is especially interested in thequality or price and the'shape or style. If the highest quality isdesired, all of the shoes in this class can be easily and quicklyselected by references to the photographs and samples of leather inseries A and by an examinationof the sample shoe 10. Some of the othersample shoes will aid in showing the general 'ap' pearance of thephotographed shoes in series A. Shoes of any quality and any style canbe very easily selected.

The new combination'and arrangement of elements herein shown, includinga few sample shoes and the groups of photographs and samples of leatherassociated therewith, produces a simple and inexpensive display devicefrom which the desired shoes can be easily selected without confusion,and this o a t de i e a rbe easi y transported.

without the expense and trouble ordinarily incurred by the transportionof several trunks of shoes. Furthermore, by combining the severalelements with each other as herein pointed out, I produce a complete andaccurate representation of the shape, color, quality and workmanship ofa very large number of shoes which have heretofore been represented byan expensive sample of each shoe to be displayed.

I claim:

1. In a shoe displaying device, the combination of a sample shoe, aseries of pictures representing shoes of the same class as the sampleshoe, and samples of leather combined with said pictures to show thequality and color of leather in the shoes represented by the pictures,said sample shoe, pictures and samples of leather being associated witheach other to show the shape, color, quality and workmanship of a seriesof shoes of the same class.

2. In a device for displaying shoes differing in shape, color, qualityand workmanship, the combination of different sample shoes, a pluralityof series of pictures of shoes to be displayed, each series of picturesrepresenting shoes of the same class as one of said sample shoes, andsamples of leather combined with the respective pictures to show thequality and color of leather in the shoes represented by said pictures,said sample shoes, pictures and samples of leather being associated witheach other to show the shape, color, quality and. workmanship of thedifferent classes of shoes represented by said pictures.

3. In a device for displaying shoes differing in shape, color, qualityand workmanship, the combination of different sample shoes, a pluralityof series of photographs of the shoes to be displayed, each series ofphotographs including a photograph of one of the sample shoes andphotographs of a series of shoes of the same class as said sample shoe,and samples of leather secured to the respective photographs to show thequality and color of leather in the shoes represented by saidphotographs, said sample shoes, photographs and samples of leather beingassociated with each other to show the shape, color, quality andworkmanship of also including a photograph of a shoe cor-- responding toa sample shoe in a class represented by another of the series ofphotographs, and samples of leather secured to the respectivephotographs to show the quality and color of leather in the shoesrepresented by said photographs, said sample shoes, photographs andsamples of leather being associated with each other to show the shape,color, quality and workmanship of the different shoes represented bysaid photographs.

5. In a device for displaying shoes differing in shape, color, qualityand workmanship, the combination of a series of different sample shoeseach showing the quality and workmanship of a series of shoes to bedisplayed, a plurality of series of photographs of the shoes to bedisplayed, each sample shoe being provided with identification meansindicating the series of photographs with which it is associated, eachseries of photographs comprising a picture of one of said sample shoesand pictures of other shoes conforming in quality and workmanship to thesame sample shoe, each series of photographs also including a picture ofa shoe conforming to the shape of another of said sample shoes, eachphotograph bein provided with a description showing dif ferentdimensions of shoes conforming to the photograph, and samples of leathersecured to the respective photographs to show the quality and color ofleather represented by the photographs.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I hereunto affix my si nature.

JE SE B. RODGERS.

